


Nowhere Bound

by acrylicsalt



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Ares is really good at seduction, AresThan past relationship, Bad seducing, Has funny moments, Idiots in Love, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, POV Thanatos (Hades Video Game), Pre-Threesome, Seduction, ThanZag established, Thanatos has Wings, Thanatos tries to trick Ares and Zag, Valentine's Day Outfit, Zagreus is just a goob, how the turntables
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-16 05:07:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29448261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acrylicsalt/pseuds/acrylicsalt
Summary: Aphrodite tells Thanatos about a contest between Ares and Zag. The contest? To see who can seduce Thanatos first.
Relationships: Ares/Thanatos (Hades Video Game), Thanatos/Zagreus (Hades Video Game)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 68





	1. Contest

**Author's Note:**

> From the prompt: a thanares/zagthan story where zagreus and ares make a bet on who can seduce thanatos first, not out of jealousy or possessive bs, but just pure pride cause they're both uselessly and helplessly in love with thanatos.  
> jokes on all of them tho, cause aphrodite told thanatos from the beginning and he's been playing zag and ares both like the bobo clowns they are 🤡🤡
> 
> I so wish I could remember where I got this prompt from so if anyone knows the source please tell me. My dumb butt just gathered a bunch of prompts a while back and didn't even cite them. 
> 
> Short first chapter - long second chapter.

_ “...the other has a heart of iron, and his spirit within him is pitiless as bronze: whomsoever of men he has once seized he holds fast: and he is hateful even to the deathless gods.” _

\-----

It was a busy day. Every day was busy in the mortal realm though. Mortals were fragile and died and the world continued to spin with or without them. Thanatos was just about finishing up a reaping when the sweet sound of a woman sighing echoed in his ears. He knew who that call foretold but he couldn’t imagine why she would appear to him.

Thanatos thought to ignore her for as long as possible. He knew the charade she would play with him and he had little patience for it. The silence between them stretched for almost too long. It was a battle of wills to see if death or love was more patient.

It was her that broke the silence between them.

“O’ Death,” Her voice was annoyingly cloy. “I have news for you.”

Thanatos looked over his shoulder to where the goddess was perched. She was seated on a boulder behind him, legs crossed, hair flowing over all her sensuous parts to block the view. Thanatos had no interest in Aphrodite and even less in what she had to offer.

“What might that be?” He asked her, turning back to his work. He was guiding the souls from a village taken by plague to Charon. Thanatos placed a obol in each of their body’s mouth so their souls could pass on without interference.

“There is a contest for your dead little heart.” A tinkling laugh came from the goddess. Thanatos paused and turned to face Aphrodite.

“A contest? Between who?” He asked, extremely suspicious.

“A past love and a current love,” She said as though she was trying to be coy. Thanatos didn’t have many loves and only two were alive still so it wasn’t a particularly hard riddle to solve.

“I’d hardly call Ares a love,” Thanatos said dully. Aphrodite laughed again.

“Oh!  _ That  _ is funny!” She lounged on her boulder, uncrossed her legs to flash him a look between, and recrossed them the other way. Thanatos had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. “You should hear how Ares talks of you. It may have been a century ago that you lay together but,” the goddess sighed longingly. “Only war could be so bewitched by such a ghastly figure like death.”

Thanatos was on the verge of leaving. He was done with this conversation and he was definitely tired of her distraction.

“How is this contest being conducted?” Thanatos asked, half his mind already in the Underworld.

“It’ll be so wonderful to watch,” Aphrodite clapped once, sitting up straight. “Whichever god seduces you first wins!”

Thanatos was gone the second she stopped talking. The quiet rustle of wings announced his presence in the House rather than his usual death toll. He floated agitatedly at his balcony, drumming his fingers on the ledge. Ares and Zag were going to seduce him?

His emotions were pulling him in every direction. He was intrigued, vexed, flustered, and flattered all at once. Thanatos could only teleport away from his feelings so many times before he could do no more except accept them as is.

_ Whichever god seduces you first wins!  _ Wins what exactly?

_ You.  _ Thanatos could hear her whisper in the back of his mind. He was the prize.

* * *


	2. Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Than tries to trick Zag and Ares but that plan backfires.  
> I assume Zag is bad at seducing but he tries his best.  
> Ares is 100% good at it but Than is better at deflecting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This got kind of hard to write because halfway through I was like, wait is this toxic? is this harassment?  
> Then I was like, this is just a FIC SARAH CALM DOWN  
> Then Demeter came at me with the snow and the rolling blackouts.  
> I lost my progress multiple times because of it.  
> The struggle.  
> Idk why I thought this would be a looooooooong chapter. It's only regular length.

Thanatos had to give himself a mental pep talk whenever he saw Zagreus or Ares. Neither had tried anything yet and he was starting to think Aphrodite was playing a joke on him.  He gave himself the pep talks anyways.

He was in another village, this one frozen over and the mortals perished from the cold. With a sweep of his scythe he sent the souls straight to the Underworld, small batches at a time. 

It was during his final sweep that Thanatos heard the screams of enraged men and a resounding  _ thunk  _ behind him. His spine straightened and he, once more, began his mental pep talk.

Honestly, Ares was an insufferable prick but gods did he take Thanatos’s breath away sometimes. The god of war called to a deeper, darker part of his nature. Death had many faces and while Ares mostly dealt devotion to the Keres, his wars and skirmishes still caused natural death enough that the two of them worked together regularly.

“O’ Death,” Ares said, his voice low. Thanatos knew immediately this was the time. Ares and he had a complicated past, one that stretched over centuries, but he had heard that tone of voice a handful of times. Each and every time was in the bedroom.

Thanatos took a steadying breath and turned around. He always hated his first reaction to Ares. The one that was drawn towards the older god. His base instincts told him to revel in the blood Ares garnered. His higher instincts told him to stand the fuck up and not fall for Ares again.

But, as usual, the first sight of Ares nearly made him stumble to his feet. It was those crimson eyes that always grounded him. They pierced into him with the force of a thrown spear.

_ Don’t ruin the game. Play along but don’t let either win.  _

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Thanatos was grateful his voice held steady. Floating as he was, he was the same height as Ares. So when the god of war closed the distance between the two of them, they were eye to eye. Thanatos resisted the urge to back up, or really to just teleport the fuck out, and tilted his head to the side in a question. A habit he picked up from Zagreus.

“Pleasure,” Ares began. He reached up and lightly pushed white hair from Thanatos’s face. “I can give you, if you so desire.” This close, Thanatos could smell the floral scent of Olympus mixed with the smoke of bonfires and the metallic  taste of copper. It made his head swim with memories.

“I do not desire that from you anymore, Ares,” Thanatos said. He still hadn’t moved away. His muscles were locked in place and his brain was a war zone. It was telling him to run and it was telling him to stay.

Ares leaned close, his mouth inches from Thanatos’s. The god of death sucked in sharply.

“Oh but you do,” Ares’s voice was enthralling. Those dangerous red eyes traveled down to his throat, past the armor there, and unabashedly looked Thanatos up and down. Very obviously checking him out. Thanatos felt his cheeks heat up and inwardly cursed himself.

“I know I’ve told you before,” Ares’s fingers brushed against Thanatos’s cheek. “You look so good in gold.”

Finally, Thanatos landed on his feet and took a step back.

“What do you really want, Ares?” Thanatos crossed his arms over his chest, heart pounding wildly. A wicked smile spread across Ares’s face.

“You, Thanatos. I want you. I miss you and the way you feel.” Ares said. “I miss the sound of your voice when you say my name.” Ares took a step forward to close the distance again.

He ghosted a hand just above Thanatos’s heart. “This should be mine.” And the hand went down, inches away from touching. Close enough that Thanatos could feel the heat from his skin. Thanatos thought he might catch fire from this torment.

Thanatos couldn’t take any more. He turned and stepped out of the mortal realm, his invisible wings brushing against Ares’s outstretched hand. He heard a frustrated curse before he was completely gone.

He stumbled into his balcony rail in the House. That wasn’t even Ares’s best moves and it had nearly worked. Thanatos took several deep breaths. He was still recovering when-

“Than!”  _ Fucking hell. _

Thanatos pushed his hood back and ran a hand through his hair. Zagreus was upon him in a flash.

“I was hoping I would see you here!” Zag said happily.

“You don’t say…” Thanatos muttered, causing the Prince to frown.

“What’s wrong?” Zagreus asked.

“I had a… strange encounter with Ares.” Than shrugged, trying to pull himself together. At his words he could practically see the fire ignite in Zag’s eyes. Thanatos suddenly wanted to leave this situation as well.

As if Zagreus could sense his mood, the Prince took Than’s hand in his. Thanatos blinked and his racing mind skidded to a halt. Zag brought Than’s hand up to his lips and kissed the top of it softly.

“Are you alright? What did he do?” Zagreus looked sincerely worried. It made Than melt a little.

“Yes, I’m fine,” Thanatos felt a small smile spread tug at the corners of his mouth. “Don’t worry, I can handle him.”

“Okay well…” Zagreus trailed off before puffing out his chest. “If he bothers you again let me know.” This time Thanatos felt the smile become real. What would Zagreus do against Ares? The prince practically worshiped the god of war. 

As if in response to the unspoken question Zagreus’s whole mood shifted.

“Than, I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately.” Zag said. He was looking up at Thanatos with big eyes.

“What about me?” Than asked, playing into Zag’s little game.

“I want to spend more time with you,” Zagreus said. He flashed Than one of his brilliant smiles and Thanatos almost fell for it. Almost. “Starting… now?” Thanatos could see the Prince was trying and it was the sweetest thing he had ever seen.

“I have work, Zag,” Thanatos said instead.

“But you  _ just _ got here,” Zagreus whined and gave a small pout. Seeing that cute little pout in contrast with the hard, muscular edges of Zag made Thanatos give Zag’s hand a small squeeze.

“I have to go to work,” Than said a little more softly this time. Zag stood on his toes and gave Than a small kiss on the cheek.

“Come back soon?” Zag asked, and Thanatos smiled before disappearing straight to his personal chambers.

He just stood there, experiencing some nasty mental whiplash. He was already aware they would attempt this but knowing and experiencing it were two entirely different things. No amount of knowledge of either of the gods would have prepared him for this.

Ares was like a raging waterfall. Wondrous to gaze upon, vicious to be near. But that was what had always attracted Thanatos to him. Ares was coming equipped with centuries of history between the two of them.

Zagreus. Sweet, handsome Zag. Thanatos thought the Prince had never seduced a single thing in his life. All he had to do was smile and everything would be done for him. Thanatos was one of those beings who would drop every single thing and do whatever was asked of him for Zag. Zagreus was coming into this contest with their current relationship at hand.

They were gods with all of eternity ahead of them. Nearly all on Olympus were polyamorous. Zag had mentioned multiple times that he would be happy if Thanatos ever wanted to be with Ares. Zagreus only wanted Than to be happy and to, ultimately, come back to him in the end.

Thanatos stood staring off into the space of his wardrobe. A spark of an idea registered in his head. His grandparent was Chaos, he could handle this and play this game they insisted upon. His eyes fell upon a long black robe. Yeah, he could do this.

\-----

Thanatos knew where Ares was. He could feel the tug of a whole host of mortals’s souls and knew it was another one of the god’s wars. A flash of green, a rustle of wings, and a death toll announced his presence on the surface.

It was his turn to be behind Ares and exude dominance. Ares turned from the battlefield, covered in blood, to face the god of death. Whatever he was about to say died on his lips and he stood there kind of slack jawed.

Thanatos tried not to squirm under that electric gaze. This was his plan and he was sticking to it, gods dammit.

“Ares,” Thanatos murmured and  moved in close. Ares sheathed his twin blades and stood stock still, as if any movement might scare away the god of death. He was playing out their earlier encounter. His cold finger ran through the blood dripping down Ares’s face, from temple to jaw. “You look  _ so good  _ covered in blood.”

Ares stopped breathing. Ares stopped everything it seemed to Thanatos.

“What? Have you changed your mind?” Thanatos asked, pulling his hand back. Ares’s shot out to grab his wrist.

“No,” Ares breathed hard. “You look…  _ delicious. _ ” The last word was said as a hiss. It had been days, maybe weeks, since he had seen either Ares or Zagreus since their last attempts at seduction. He had avoided both, the former probably not noticing and the latter most definitely noticing, but it had been worth it. Thanatos had spent the time working up the courage to turn their contest back around on them. And working up the courage to wear this ridiculous outfit to tempt them further.

He stood in front of Ares in his tights, his long black hooded robe, his metal gorget and… not much else. Thanatos was bare chested and, for all intents and purposes, laid bare before Ares.

Ares tugged on Thanatos’s wrist to bring him up flush against him. A hand cupped the back of Thanatos’s neck and the other hand let go of his wrist, moving to his waist. Ares held him in a gentle embrace, so he could look upon Thanatos’s face.

“You came to me,” Ares said, the corners of his mouth curved up. Ares had rarely ever been tender with Thanatos. It was something neither of them, at the time of their copious coupling, wanted. Now, though, after being with kind Zagreus for so long, Thanatos found he craved the soft touches that were offered to him.

“I did,” Thanatos said. His heart was pounding. They were so close in a way they had not been in so long. He didn’t know he wanted this until it was happening. Ares was closing the distance between their lips with antagonizing slowness. At the last possible second, Thanatos turned his head and the kiss landed on his cheek.

“Not here,” Thanatos began. “I want you to come to my chambers. I’ll be there shortly. Will you await me there?”

“Anything for you, O’ Death,” Ares said. Thanatos gave Ares a rare smile before disappearing from the embrace.

And appearing directly into Zagreus’s chambers. The Prince was there, just as Thanatos had suspected. He had spent this time making sure this plan would work perfectly. Zag whipped his head up from the Lyre he was practicing with. His jaw dropped instantly. Very similar to Ares’s reaction but with double the emotion.

“Come, my love,” Thanatos said, holding out his hand. It took a second for Zagreus to mobilize.

“Death beckons,” Zag said with a smile and was quickly enveloped in Than’s arms. A soft kiss was pressed to the top of his black hair. Zagreus was so easy. He was so trusting and wanted any attention from Than.

“This looks amazing on you, Than.” Zag admired, pressing soft kisses to Than’s chest. It gave Than goosebumps.

“Ah, Zag,” Than murmured. He tilted Zagreus’s head up with a finger and placed the softest kiss on those hot, plump lips. “To my chambers?”

Zag made a soft, happy noise. “Yes.” Zagreus wrapped his arms around Than, inside his robe so Thanatos was instantly warmed. When Thanatos summoned his wings to teleport them to his chambers, he lifted the glamour that hid them from mortal and immortal eye. A brilliant smile lit Zag’s face when he spied them and then they were gone in a blinding flash of green.

Then they were all in his chambers. All three of them. Ares was pretending to look at one of the many books lining the walls when Thanatos glimpsed him. Zagreus was still in his arms.

“Than!” Zag exclaimed. “I’ve  _ never  _ seen your wings before. That was so great, thank you.” Ares turned then. His face was deadly neutral. Zagreus heard the shuffle of feet and looked over his shoulder. Their eyes met. A bright pink flush spread over Zagreus’s… entire body? Thanatos had never seen Zag react like that. The Prince took a hasty step away from Than.

“Oh,” Zag said, a bit nervously. “Uh… what?” Zagreus did a weird nonsense gesture with his hands. Thanatos crossed his arms over his chest and stared at two gods.  _ The god of war, the god of blood, and the god of death walk into a bar.  _ He could have sworn he heard grandparent Chaos laughing in the dark corners of his chambers.

“I, too, have never seen your wings before,” Ares said, deadpan.

“And you won’t,” Thanatos snipped back. Ares and Zagreus stared at him. Sometimes Than couldn’t control his attitude around Ares. He took a controlled breath. “You two have some explaining to do.”

The two gods glanced at each other as silence descended. Neither wanted to fess up. Zagreus shifted from foot to foot, looking like he was about to explode with the confession or how uncomfortable he was. Ares stared straight at Thanatos. A disquieting smile was creeping on his face.

“Actually,” Ares purred. “I have an infinitely better idea now that all three of us are here.” Ares walked slowly towards Thanatos; a hunter stalking its prey. He walked right past Zagreus, although throwing a sultry wink at the Prince, and right up to Thanatos. Than had to back away a few steps until his back bumped against a wall. Large hands were placed on either side of his head. Ares leaned down so they were eye to eye.

“You sought to snare me in a trap while on the battlefield,” The god of war’s voice was low. Zagreus took a tiny step forward to hear better. Thanatos couldn’t tear his eyes away from Ares’s face. “You’ve brought war, blood and death into the same space. We are an ouroboros, yet ultimately our devotion is to you.”

Thanatos’s heart skipped a beat. He reached up to trace a cold finger along the white tattoo band along Ares’s temple.

“We only wanted to express our love,” Zagreus said from behind Ares. Gold eyes flicked to mismatched red and green over Ares’s shoulder. “It didn’t exactly work out as expected but Lord Ares is right. You’ve brought us here, so we should pay our respects.”

Thanatos felt his mouth go dry. Respect? Devotion?  _ Our  _ love?

Ares pushed himself off the wall and retreated a couple steps. He stood beside Zag, both the gods staring at Than. Thanatos felt stripped in that moment but he saw the look on their faces mirrored the other. Admiration. They were admiring him.

“What does all this mean?” Than’s voice was rough.This had taken a sharp turn away from what he planned.

It was Zagreus that came up to him. The Prince took his hand and held it in both of his. “It means we’re both going to show you how much you really mean to us.” Thanatos blinked once, twice.

“It means,” Ares said. “We’re going to fuck you until you can’t remember your name.” A gold flush heated Thanatos under his skin.

“Yeah, that,” Zagreus nodded sagely.

Thanatos felt like his skin was too tight over his bones all of a sudden.

“Oh,” Than breathed as Zagreus fell to his knees and Ares came in for a kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH HO HOHOHOHOHOHOOOOO. I wanna write the smut chapter with all my being, but if I do it'll be a separate story. I'd like to keep this one rated T.  
> Also- I've never written a threesome so I don't want to pressure myself into it lololol  
> But my brain went, if he's gonna wear that outfit I want it to get messy.

**Author's Note:**

> Beautiful Valentines art by Supergiant Games, specifically their art director Jen Zee! It's up on their Facebook page if anyone wants to see the Meg artwork too. Happy Valentines day everyone. I'm really feeling that outfit they drew him in soooo you know it's about to be featured in the next chapter.


End file.
